Boulderz Climbing Centre

The staff at Boulders Junction are very friendly and helpful, that is the only reason this review isn't a 1 star.Boulders Junction transitioned from trad to a spray wall system which is completely unusable. Interacting with the Stokt app is unbearable and I spend most of my session looking at my phone instead of climbing. Using the spray wall system I can only realistically attempt a couple's routes per session after wasting time on memorization. After successfully completing a route there is no gratification only frustration.Furthermore, I don't recall any consultation by Boulders to active members if they would enjoy spray walls. Even if the trad walls were to return in the future I don't think I would...

Not a single hold in this gym had grit on it, and there were very few beginner friendly routes. I was excited to bring my friend here for her first bouldering experience but she became discouraged because the only routes on her level were on the short kids wall. I was struggling on routes I normally could have flashed because the holds were so dirty and worn down. I hate to give a low rating, the staff and climbers were friendly and the setting was cool, but I didn’t have a great climbing experience here compared to the ~10 other gyms i’ve visited.

We were visiting and looking for a place to climb, so we thought we'd try out this Boulderz location despite noticing that they'd moved to a spray wall format. I was more worried about remembering which holds to use from the app than the quality of the routes in the app initially.The gym is very small, even smaller than another gym we visited downtown. This could be surmounted with good route setting, but, well, keep reading.Remembering which holds to use from the app was basically impossible, but the routes available were worse. They're basically made up by anyone in the gym and graded pretty much randomly according to that person's whims with no effort to have a standard progression of difficulty. I tried finding some easier routes to warm up with but quickly discovered the assigned grades did not accurately reflect the difficulty of the climbs, so I gave up on the app routes.The only way to climb here is to make up your own routes (and save them in the app if you want). Since route setting is hard, I can't see this appealing to very many people.Also, this experience has taught me to never complain about the more trad gyms that mark the routes with tape because at least the routes are marked and they employ actual route setters.I suppose the only way this app model could work would be to set routes the old way with tape and save the old routes in the app to have more climbs available. I feel really bad for any new climbers who were introduced to climbing in this gym under this model.

Very disappointed in the decision to upgrade" this gym to a spray wall. I loved coming here

At the suggestion of a member of your staff, who was very kind and helpful, I am writing to pass on some feedback about your decision to change the format of the gym. Unfortunately, these changes are all for the worse.By moving to a spray wall" model that prioritizes use of the Stokt app

For such a small gym they make great use of the space. The auto-belays are fun and surprising in such a small area. I am mainly disappointed about the spray wall and the way they implemented it. I honestly have no gripes about spray walls. They are super common in East Asian gyms. I would be fine with it if the spray wall had physical visual markings like with coloured tapes in specific shapes, but unfortunately they use the Stokt app. The app just sucks. It keeps crashing, it's finicky to zoom into the pictures, meanwhile the search feature is intuitive but overwhelming. They give you a laser for your bouldering partner to help you find out the next move, but that honestly seems like a laser to the eye waiting to happen. I bought the 2 week intro but I don't think I will be returning unless they bring back proper route setting and get rid of the app. It is otherwise a 5/5.

Loved the place. The instructors are friendly and helpful. I went as an absolute beginner and was confident to take on some complex challenges in a few sessions.

Needlessly complicated, and business-wise seems like it was a poor decision to turn the whole gym into a spray wall and force you to stare at your phone to memorize a route. Maybe they're looking to entirely cut down their clientele to only very experienced climbers.

I have climbed in many gyms across continents, and I have never seen a gym this bad. It was actually laughable!They are too cheap to pay route setters so they only have spray walls (I have nothing against having a spray wall for my training), and they want you to use a buggy app.